An Elsewhere To Be
by KentD
Summary: Starts out in a world that doesn't seem like the Buffyverse at all, but the appearance of a certain blonde makes you wonder if this Elsewhere isn't connected to Sunnydale after all.
1. Part one

Disclaimer: The characters Buffy, Willow, Spike/William, Angel, Riley, Dawn and any other characters from the Buffy the vampire slayer series are the creations of Joss Whedon.

Tianne, Ariadne, The Mediator, Computer and Roland are my own creations. Similarities to any real life person or persons should only be interpreted as my way of saying "Hi" and not as an attempt to portray these persons or any real-life situations.

More stories featuring Tianne, Ariadne and their world will be published in the future, either at this site or at my new, soon to be launched personal site at 

www.kentdamgaard.dk

check for further updates during may 2003.

Rating: PG-13

Author's Note: This story is very AU. Large portions of this story take place outside the normal Sunnydale/LA settings of Buffy and Angel.

The story is dedicated to Psyche and The Tigergirl, for keeping the faith.

  


  


An elsewhere to be

  


A single beam of light from the lamppost reflected in the puddle of water on the sidewalk, along with the image of the building across the street. The dome-like roof and pillars in front could lead passerbys to speculate whether this was a low-profile religious temple or a high profile financial institution. But nobody was passing by this night, so nobody got hit by the water sent splattering in all directions by a high heeled boot hitting the puddle and running past the building.

Tianne was cursing the high heels. How the f... were you supposed to run, let alone fight in those.

Her pursuers were not far behind from what she could tell without slowing down to look over her shoulder. 

The deserted street didn't offer much for her as means of escape. No crowds to get lost in. 

"Not that I was likely to, wearing this skintight outfit", she thought to herself, "whoever figured out that superheroes should dress up like this couldn't be anyone who had to wear the outfit themselves".

She still hadn't quite figured out what the origin of her costume was, but it seemed that it appeared magically whenever she started to use her newfound powers.

Taking off and flying away from her pursuers seemed like a good idea now, but unfortunately flying was Ariadne's domain, and Tianne wasn't quite sure if her younger partner had managed to avoid being seen by the guards.

She needed to get away from the deserted open street and its bright lights, and luckily a possible escape presented itself to her on the left in the form of a dark alleyway between two buildings. Not loosing a step she turned and darted into the relative darkness. 

  


*

  


"Where'd she go?" the group leader yelled to his men, "This alley is a dead end, unless she's managed to fly away she should be somewhere around here".

"Major Thomas, sir. Perhaps that is what she did, one of those girls seemed able to fly," one of his subordinates offered as explanation.

Looking around once more, feeling that he'd missed something but unable to put his finger on it, Major Thomas had to give in.

"Nope, not flight. I'm sure of that. One of them was flying, but not the black girl. Perhaps she is using some other freak power to disguise herself right now." 

Signaling for the rest of the squad to move out he continued the search down the street.

  


*

  


Underground Tianne was paradoxically trying both to catch her breath and hold it at the same time, so as not to alert the men above her to her position. Slipping down a manhole wasn't the brightest of plans, but strangely it seemed to have worked, because nobody seemed to be trying to lift the heavy metal cover she'd just pulled back in place.

Checking her surroundings she discovered that the tunnel wasn't entirely dark, but dimly lit in places from some sort of flickering light source - torches she guessed, so somebody must be using this place for a purpose. The smell wasn't as penetrating as she'd feared either, maybe this tunnel wasn't connected to the main sewer. 

"Or perhaps resistance to unpleasant smells is just one more undiscovered superpower I have besides the added strength", she thought to herself.

"You can leave now, your pursuers up there are already leaving", a voice informed from the darkness behind her.

Startled she turned around, already assuming a fighting stance, but the dark outline of a person did not seem to pose any immediate threat. 

"How can you be sure?"

"They did not discover the manhole you used to get down here, and suddenly they felt that searching anymore in this area would be futile"

The calm deep voice coming from inside the hood of the robe worn by the other person was calm, almost emotionless and strangely self-assured.

"What do you mean.... how could you know what they would feel like...?"

"Because I planted the feeling in their minds, just as I could have chosen to make them forget why they turned down that alley in the first place."

Cautiously she took a couple of steps toward the hooded figure in front of her, but she still couldn't quite make out any features beneath the hood.

"You're .... I thought that you were.."

"...a myth"

"Finishing other peoples sentences... do you read peoples mind to do it, or is that just an annoying habit?"

"I have many powers, but reading minds is not one of them."

"But lurking in the darkness is ?"

Tianne couldn't help feeling her temper rise. Patience wasn't one of her virtues, and this guy was obviously trying to get every cent out of his "dark and mysterious" routine.

"We prefer to keep a low profile, and not draw attention to our work. Most humans do not like the idea that mystical beings are interfering with their reality."

"But you interfered and saved me?"

"Your presence here was drawing attention. It was a necessity."

Without any further explanation the dark stranger turned around and started walking away down the tunnel.

"Hey wait, you can't just leave. Don't you want to help ?"

She started to walk after him, hoping to explain what was at stake here, but found that she could not follow. Something was holding her back; it felt like one of those dreams where you try to run from something, but your steps are heavy, like you're stuck in some sticky substance, and you're getting nowhere. Except she was walking towards something, not running away. And not making any progress either. He must be using some kind of magic or a forcefield.

"Hey, it's rude to leave in the middle of a conversation!"

Her words went unheeded, as the stranger now became one with the darkness.

Cursing under her breath she turned back to where she'd come from and lifted the manhole cover to check if the people above had really moved on in their search.

It slid away effortlessly and revealed a face looking down at her.

  


*

  


"Hi, Tianne,", the blond girl greeted from above, her youthful face covered in a big smile.

"Hi, Ariadne, how did you know where I was? Did you read my mind to locate me?"

"No," Ariadne grinned, "For once that wasn't necessary. The guards didn't see me, so I followed at a distance and saw them turn after you down here and then come back looking a bit confused, so I figured you must have hidden in here somehow. Though how they could have managed to NOT see that manhole is beyond me."

Taking the outstretched hand from Ariadne Tianne climbed back up to street-level.

"I had help..."

"Help? What do you mean help? Is it someone who can help us free Will.."

"No, I doubt that", interrupted Tianne, "But perhaps the data I managed to copy from their computer can help us to make some kind of plan. We'll have to run them through the computer to see what turns up. Can you airlift us out of here? I don't like hanging around longer than necessary, in case the guards suddenly come back".

"Sure thing."

Still grinning Ariadne grabbed her by the shoulders and effortlessly took to the air. It wasn't flying as such, Tianne knew, more like another application of Ariadne's mental powers. It seemed that she just mentally pushed away from the ground, and gravity sort of gave up it's hold on her.

"Unexplainable, but very useful," Tianne thought to herself as they disappeared into the night sky above the city.

  


* 

  


Not much of the city's vast impressive skyline was visible from the skylight of the penthouse apartment. One open window let in a bit of cool night air, while two others were covered by large pieces of cardboard, still awaiting repair.

This clashed oddly with the stylish interior of the living room below, into which Ariadne lowered Tianne from the open window above. Sparse but stylish furniture suggested affluence, not disrepair.

Tianne stumbled a bit on the hardwood floor, taking a couple of extra steps to regain her balance.

"Sorry about that, Tianne,", Ariadne apologised while descending herself, "Didn't mean to drop you like that"

"I know, as they say, it's not flying that's the difficult bit, it's the landing."

Mentally Tianne added a silent prayer that she was right. There was still so much that she didn't know about the powers of the young girl she had partnered up with and her strange mental powers. She hardly even comprehended her own newfound powers.

"It's really a shame that flying isn't one of your powers," Ariadne suggested, "Going out flying together would be kinda cool, don't you think?"

"Dunno really, I think I'm content with the added strength, even though I still need to recharge my powers."

"Yeah, speaking of recharging... if you don't need me for anything more tonight I think I'll hit the shower and go to bed. This flying is fun, but it kinda wears you down, especially if you have to carry someone".

Tianne shook her head.

"No it's ok, I'll just recharge and get to work on what we've gathered so far."

She reached into her costume and withdrew a small shiny metallic mini-disc.

"Put this into the computer on the way,. Perhaps I was able to get something useful before those guards discovered me messing around with their systems".

Ariadne looked at the disk, frowning.

"You know, we really ought to get this computer stuff down so we know what we're doing next time we try to get something".

Tianne smiled and turned, heading for the next room.

"Well, like flying, that's a job I'll be happy to leave in your hands."

  


*

  


Entering the study, Tianne wondered if that was really the appropriate name for the room. Perhaps "trophy room" would be more appropriate. Or perhaps "Batcave" ? She still hadn't gotten used to this new apartment with all it's fancy furniture, bookshelves filled with leather-bound volumes of ancient knowledge and strange objects d'art that she wasn't even sure they were there for purely decorative purposes.

"One day I'm a waitress living in a bug-ridden apartment in a bad neighborhood. The next I'm some kind of superhero living in a flashy penthouse. I guess things could be worse."

She smiled down at the source of her sudden luck, which she had found by coincidence at the market on her day off. At first it had looked just like a bland glass or crystal sphere, but when she had picked it up to examine it further it had seemed to change color and felt strangely warm to the touch. 

Later back at her apartment she wasn't even sure why she had bought it or how much she had paid for it, but these questions quickly gave way to a strange urge to go to this uptown address where the electronic locks much to her astonishment had admitted her without any trouble at all.

She stretched out her hands towards it, feeling again this unnatural warmth from the orb as her hands came closer to it. She could feel power emanating from it. Her coffee-creme skin suddenly gained a golden glow as the energy surged into her.

She suddenly felt refreshed in a way that went beyond what even a good nights sleep could usually provide. Her strength was back at a level where she could easily have taken on a contingent of guards if she had to, unlike earlier on.

"Strange how soon I needed that recharge," she thought to herself, "Usually I can go for two-three days with no problem before my strength starts to fade."

Hoping that this night's incident had only been a strange fluke she let go of the orb and returned her focus to the next task at hand.

"I've got to have a look at the contents on the disk, maybe we can get something from it. Strange really. The Orb is affecting everything around it, Ariadne is developing her powers in all kinds of ways, and even Computer doesn't seem unaffected."

  


*

  


The blue light from the screen in the otherwise dark room was hardly enough to make Tianne's dark eyes stand out, yet they managed to send a menacing glare at the message on the screen in front of her.

"The program has performed an illegal action...," the white letters informed her.

"Computer!!!"

"Sorry, Tianne,", the slightly metallic voice informed her from a speaker above one of the racks of electronic equipment beside her.

"I've been experimenting with some humorous subroutines. Apparently they still need some work to achieve the correct effect on users."

"Errors aren't fun...," Tianne growled.

"Well my research seems to indicate that humor often arises from unknown events occurring within a familiar context..."

Tianne's hand tightened around the mouse on the desk in front of her.

"Computeeeeer!!"

"..however, stress analysis of you voice also indicate some level of agitation, which again suggests some kind of urgency," the computer continued. 

Tianne never referred to it as anything other than Computer, even though Ariadne kept insisting that they should find a more suitable name for it.

"I'm assuming that you need to hear what I've found, based on the data that Ariadne loaded into me earlier."

"Yeah, something that might tell us where they are keeping William inside that building would be nice.... I don't suppose that one of those files contained a blueprint of the entire building"

"Sorry," the computer answered, "My research so far seems to indicate that such events most frequently occur in the kind of animated stories that Ariadne has a certain affection for downloading from the net..."

"You mean movies?"

"Yes, but the data I've analyzed so far indicates that all electronic devices in the building are connected to the same network. Furthermore the configuration data indicates that there is a wide range of surveillance equipment within the building."

Tianne thought of how quickly the guards had detected her presence and nodded mentally.

"But they also indicate that a large part of the equipment is located beneath street-level."

"More surveillance equipment", asked Tianne.

"No, number crunchers is the term usually attributed to this kind of computing power. Large machines made for complex calculations, astrophysics, weather patterns... or simulating nuclear explosions for that matter"

"More machines, more alarms.... seems that a lot of interesting things are going on below street level," Tianne muttered to herself.

  


*

  


A single electric light illuminated a small portion of the tunnel, but the face of the robed figure wouldn't have been visible to the approaching guard even if the person had been facing the other way. Military training had taught the guard how to approach with stealth, but he also had a very keen sense telling him whenever something was wrong with the target he approached, and the unmoving figure suggested someone that should have noticed his approach but still remained strangely unmoving.

"You're getting careless," he blankly stated, "I could have snuck up on you without you noticing anything"

The calm emotionless voice as the robed figure turned towards him suggested otherwise.

"Had your intentions been anything but friendly, you would have given yourself away long before you even entered this tunnel."

"But how can you know that my intentions are good, when you also know who I work for ?"

Again the reply betrayed nothing.

"We all carry potentials within ourselves. Both good and evil..."

  


*

  


For a moment, leaving behind her the thoughts of how to enter the place where William was kept, Tianne had another issue for the computer to look at.

"I met quite an interesting character while getting this disk, you know. I would think that he was a Mediator. Does that mean anything to you?"

"I have come across some references to these people....."

"Are you sure that they are 'people' ?"

"Most references would indicate that they are human, or at least humanoid, but most references would also indicate that they are nothing but a mere myth."

"The one I met didn't seem mythological at all.... perhaps a bit rude, but otherwise real enough. Try to see what you're able to dig up on Mediators. Even though he helped me tonight, I'm not sure that we can trust him."

Computer didn't answer her question, but the sudden hum of disk drives activating ensured her that work was already in progress. Above the combined noise of disks and cooling fans she suddenly heard another sound, not unlike a metallic voice singing, "Daisy, daisy...."

"Oh, and Computer," she added while turning around to leave the room.

"You know what happens when you start singing like that while you work...."

She could have sworn that the sound of the speaker disconnecting almost sounded frightened.

  


*

  


"If we all contain potentials for good and evil, then you think that the power for the girls can be corrupted?" The soldier was still trying to get a handle on what his mysterious underground contact was really getting at.

"I don't know if they can be corrupted or turned toward evil, but it is a possibility I cannot entirely rule out."

"And if they can...?"

"Then I have a job to do."

  


*

  


"We need a place to work out," Tianne thought while looking around the living room. If we step up the practice much more we'll end up wrecking the place. 

The living room, with its sparse furniture had seemed ideal as a training ground the other night when she had decided to give Ariadne another go at using her mental powers in combat. Now, thinking back, she wasn't sure it had been a good idea...

  


* One night earlier *

  


Tianne looked at the outfit Ariadne was wearing, just as skin-tight as her own, but Ariadne had combined patterns of light blue and white to make herself look very colorful compared to Tianne's plain black leather.

"Nice new outfit. Though I liked the red leather pants and the black top better"

"I don't remember having such and outfit?" Ariadne answered slightly puzzled.

"Must have been something that I've dreamt. I've been having some weird dreams lately."

The first few weeks Ariadne had to put up with actually changing into uniform, but then she somehow got the knack of making her uniform appear at will when she started to use her powers, just like Tianne had. 

This had developed into an almost daily routine of changing the style of her uniform as Ariadne gradually discovered new aspects of her powers.

"Why the "A" logo ?" Tianne asked, looking at the small golden logo that Ariadne had included in her uniform just above her left breast.

"It's because of my codename 'Ariadne'."

"Ariadne?"

"I found it in one of your books. She helped some guy escape from a labyrinth, so I thought it was kinda appropriate since doing this superhero stuff seems to be my way of getting out of these mazes of powers in my mind."

"Alright, so now you're Ariadne," Tianne answered, not entirely comfortable with the idea of codenames.

"It sure beats being boring old Eileen. You should get one too."

Tianne shook her head, with all the changes in her life these days, the last thing she needed was a new name. .

"Now let's get on with the training. I think we should focus on using your mental powers in combat situations."

Ariadne quickly assumed a fighting stance with a sort of humorous "give me your best shot" look on her face.

"No, that's just it," Tianne said "you prepare to defend yourself physically... you should defend yourself with your mental powers."

Tianne struck out the first blow at Ariadne in mid-sentence, but the small girl obviously had seen it coming, because she effortlessly blocked the blow with her arm. Tianne followed through with more attacks, but Ariadne kept up with every combination she could come up with.

"You've studied martial arts before discovering your own powers, haven't you ?" Tianne asked while wiping a thin film of sweat on her brow.

"Yeah, a small skinny girl like me had to learn to defend herself in some way", Ariadne answered with a perky smile.

"Oh, and it also helps a lot that I can scan your thoughts and know what you're going to do just a little bit before you actually do it."

Tianne shook her head. Ariadne was definitely clever, this was definitely a creative new way to use her mental powers. There was just one more thing that needed to be tested.

"Clever - lets try again."

Tianne resumed her attack, this time just striking out instinctively, using combinations she knew by rote from her own training - waitresses walking home late at night in a bad neighbourhood had a way of attracting the weirdest creeps.

Ariadne looked surprised at not being able to read her opponent's next move anymore, and even though Tianne held back her punches a little she would probably have a few bruises by the time this training session was finished.

"Not so easy now, is it ?" Tianne managed to say before a counterblow from Ariadne temporarily forced her to halt her attack.

Feigning indecision Tianne let Ariadne think she had regained the offensive, setting her up for a roundhouse kick that would surely take her out and finish the training session.

Sensing that the timing was right Tianne swung her leg, but felt it stop in mid-air like it had hit a soft cushion of air. Then suddenly she was lifted up into the air and felt herself fly backwards, sending her crashing into the wall behind her.

  


*

  


"Are you alright, Tianne?"

Tianne nodded while trying to shake some of the cobwebs in her head.

"I don't know what happened, I just sensed that you were coming for me and reacted on instinct. But pretty cool, huh ?"

Tianne looked around her. After colliding with the wall she had apparently landed on a chair that now lay broken on the floor around her along with a small table she'd managed to overturn.

"Well, at least I didn't damage the wall when I hit it, did I ?"

Ariadne suddenly looked worried.

"I'm not entirely sure. Look..."

The wall behind Tianne was beginning to glow, almost as if something on the other side of it was on fire and it was beginning to erode the stones themselves, ready to burst into the room at any moment.

She knew that the right course of action was to step back and wait to see what was going to happen, but that wasn't the way Tianne handled things. Stepping toward the wall she examined the glow, which was expanding but not giving off any heat.

"This is not natural."

"Well duh!" Ariadne commented.

"No, I mean there's no heat. It's not a fire, but some kind of energy."

The glowing spot on the wall kept expanding, already a couple of feet wide.

"I think something is trying to break through," Tianne observed.

"What ? From the study?"

Behind her Ariadne was moving to go into the other room, but Tianne waved at her to stay in place.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's from beyond this apartment. So be ready to hit it with all you've got, if it's got tentacles or an unusual number of heads".

The glowing circle on the wall was now almost as large as Tianne standing in front of it. She assumed a fighting stance in case anything tried to poke its head through from the other side. But what she hadn't quite expected was that it wouldn't so much poke its head out as rather throw itself directly at her.

"Look ou..." was all she managed before it hit her and she was down for the count.

Ariadne rushed over quickly to get Tianne out from underneath what she now realised was an unconscious male body. A naked male body she noted as she easily shifted his weight of her and laid him down on the floor. He seemed to be warm and breathing, pulse regular, so he was probably not seriously hurt, perhaps just unconscious from whatever had brought him there.

"Woah!!!", a surprised Ariadne exclaimed "Who is he Tianne?"

She was certain that she'd never seen him before. His appearance was rather distinctive. The slicked blond hair and chiseled cheekbones would make him stand out in most crowds. His age was indeterminate, in his thirties she'd guess, perhaps older, but keeping himself nicely in shape she noted from the muscle tone of his upper body. She felt tempted to continue the examination further, but suddenly remembered that Ariadne was still in the room with her.

"Ariadne, we need to find something to cover him with, clothes or something?"

Ariadne seemed lost in her own thoughts.

"We need something to cover him," Tianne repeated.

"Huh...? Why ?", Ariadne muttered, "Urh, I mean right away."

While Ariadne grudgingly left the room Tianne got up to take a pillow from the sofa at the other end of the room. Returning, she could hear a very soft groan from him, indicating that he was coming to.

He opened his eyes land looked up at Tianne. Surprise was there, but also some penetrating quality that seemed to look right beyond her eyes and into her thoughts.

Suddenly she remembered that she was still in uniform.

"Don't worry. We're the good guys," she smiled at him, "We'll take care of you."

Ariadne returned with a blanket and some clothes.

"So, you're awake? How did you manage to do that stunt?" she knelt down beside him and started to spread the blanket out over him.

"D...do ?" the blonde stranger seemed to have trouble speaking.

"Yeah," Ariadne continued unfazed, "Going poof and turning up here in the middle of our living room, that's pretty amazing."

"Not sure... don't remember..." He suddenly seemed worried at his lack of memory.

"Maybe you're just confused after what happened", Tianne assured him.

"Can you remember anything at all ? Your name ?"

"W...William ?"

"Sounds like a nice name," Ariadne added.

William took hold of the blanket and wrapped himself in it.

"Do you remember anything else?"

William shook his head uncertainly. He tried to stand up, but his legs immediately buckled under him. Tianne reached out to catch him, but found that Ariadne had reacted instinctively and reached out with her power and broken his fall. For a moment he looked puzzled, then his head tilted forward.

"Is he ?... " Ariadne asked worriedly.

"He's out cold, but his pulse is still steady. Perhaps his body is still adjusting to the effects of what happened to him".

Tianne picked him up in her arms. He seemed a bit heavier now, but nothing she couldn't handle.

"He needs to rest. Let's put him in one of the guest-rooms."

  


Ariadne looked down at the sleeping William.

"He's cute. Can we keep him?" she shot a perky smile at Tianne.

"Down girl!" Tianne answered, "We don't know anything about what he is."

"I guess not, but how can anyone looking like that be evil?"

"In a lot more ways than you can possibly think of. Better get some sleep yourself, we've got a lot of work to do once he wakes up."

Following her young partner out of the room, Tianne turned around and looked back one final time before turning out the light.

"But she's right..." she whispered under her breath. "He is kinda cute."

  


*

  


"...and that is as much as I know right now," explained the uniformed man.

"Which is more than enough for me to interfere."

"But you do realise that this may end up destroying him....."

"...a necessary risk."

"But what about the two girls' reaction?"

".,.another necessary risk."

The guard looked visibly chocked at the seeming ruthlessness from the Mediator, then became aware of how his face betrayed his emotions and quickly looked away.

"It seems like a dangerous course of action, but I trust you. Just like I trusted you with the life of my little girl..."

"You need not be concerned, she is still safe in the care of the people I left her with"

The soldier kept his face turned away, to hide his relief.

"...good. She must never know anything about my.."

But looking back he realised that he was now talking into the empty space in front of him where the Mediator had been.

  


*

  


Ariadne awoke and felt surprisingly tired, considering she'd gotten at least eight or nine hours of sleep. Puzzled she tried to shake some of the sleepiness of her in the shower, though not succeeding completely.

Sleep had been troubled during the night, she'd kept dreaming these weird dreams where she'd be chasing after someone through a cemetery. She couldn't quite remember who she was supposed to be chasing, but she had an odd sense that William had somehow also been in the dream.

Then she remembered the events of the day before, perhaps it was just the after-effects of using her power in a new and exciting way. Quickly dressing, she decided to go and see if he was still asleep.

He wasn't. But sounds of talk and laughter from further down the hall led her to the kitchen where she found Tianne and William talking.

"Morning sleepyhead," Tianne smiled at her, "You want breakfast? I was just making something for William.".

Ariadne felt a small twinge of jealousy. Tianne shouldn't be the one fixing breakfast for William, in fact she shouldn't be the one talking and joking with him in the first place!

"Well, I guess serving breakfast for him is more your kind of job", she heard herself say, "After all you have the experience as a waitress already."

Tianne glared at her, but said nothing.

William, sensing the tension in the room, flashed a brief smile in her direction.

"So, you're Ariadne... or Eileen"

His strange british accent made him stretch out the name into something like eye-leen, but she couldn't help but feel that it was somehow charming. He was still dressed in a makeshift outfit consisting of an old sweat suit of Tianne's, since anything of Ariadne's would be far to small to fit him. Tiannes sweatshirt seemed to fit nice and tightly she noticed.

"That's me," she smiled back at him, "Have you managed to find out who you are... apart from knowing that you name is William?"

"Still 'aven't the foggiest," he replied, "Though I'm pretty sure I'm British. This accent is a sort of dead giveaway innit ?"

There was a weird sort of twinkle in his eye saying that, and Ariadne couldn't help herself from laughing or half-giggling.

"This is where your powers might come in," Tianne interrupted, "perhaps everything is still in his mind somewhere and you'll be able to pull it out."

Ariadne looked at William.

"In your mind...yeah, I'd like to be.. erh, look into your mind and see what's in there."

"S' okay," William replied, "Finish you breakfast first. I'm not going anywhere."

Ariadne bit her lip to avoid slipping out a "Promise ?".

  


*

  


"So, you're the girl who reads minds," William said, putting down his cup of tea.

"I guess I am," Ariadne answered and tried not to blush, "Just relax, this shouldn't hurt or anything."

Ariadne focused her power for a couple of minutes then looked puzzled.

"What did you see?" asked Tianne.

"Well... uh, nothing?"

"What do you mean 'nothing'. You're supposed to be some kind of telepath, for crying out loud"

"I know... " Ariadne answered hesitantly, "But that is what I get when I try to read his mind. It's like looking into a mirror and not finding any reflection there. It' feels sorta eerie."

"Perhaps you're not trying hard enough?" Tianne suggested, but before Ariadne could reply they were interrupted by a sound coming from the living room.

"Glass breaking," Tianne thought to herself, "not good, since the only two people in this house that usually break glass are not in there."

The broken glass was one of the windows in the skylight, now scattered on the floor of the living room along with the intruders.

Tianne counted three standing on the floor and at least two others rappelling down ropes from above.

They looked like high-tech commando soldiers of some sort, with visors in front of their faces. Probably not infrared or anything, since it was not dark outside, perhaps just to conceal their faces.

"Retrieval team in position. Two female civilians are with the target. Will neutralise before continuing retrieval."

Tianne leapt into action.

"Yeah? Neutralise this!"

Her changing into uniform while jumping at the first soldier seemed to baffle him enough to enable her to land the first blow. She quickly moved on as he fell to the ground. She knew she had to get into the middle of the fight; if they had any weapons ready they'd be less likely to use them at close quarters out of fear of hitting each other.

Jumping over his fallen body she followed through with a roundhouse kick to the midriff of the second soldier, doubling him over. Grabbing his visor she pulled him upright again aiming her next punch directly at his face. She felt something break as her fist slammed home.

"Probably just the visor," she thought, "Now fall over and play dead and your nose won't be next."

He swayed for a moment, then sank to his knees.

"Good boy."

The third soldier had cautiously moved back a bit. No glutton for punishment. Good for him.

"Put the weapon down now, and you get the chance to talk instead of bleeding," Tianne barked while trying to look menacingly at him.

Another person was coming down the rope from above. He moved straight for where William was standing. She needed to finish this fast. Ariadne couldn't possibly handle him as well as the two she was already taking on.

She turned around, lunging toward the new soldier. Her other opponent set after her, hoping to attack her from behind. Only too late did he realise that Tianne was going for the rope instead. 

Grabbing hold of it she swung around, hitting him feet-first in the chest and sending him flying through the room towards the wall.

"Oh no, there goes more furniture," she managed to think before returning her attention to Ariadne and William.

Ariadne was still holding her own against the two soldiers, but the third had managed to get close to William who just stood there, rooted to the place. There seemed to be some look of recognition in his eyes.

"Ariadne, use your mental blast on those two, I'll get William," she shouted out.

"Can't..." was all her partner, out of breath, managed to reply.

The soldier in front of William took something out of his belt that looked like some sort of cattle prod and turned it towards him, sending blue sparks flying all over his upper body.

"Nooo," Tianne shouted, striking out at him, only to find it effortlessly deflected by him.

"The target is down," He shouted at the two others, "Get him out of here".

He turned to face Tianne.

"I'll take care of this one myself".

Tianne wondered how he could sound that self-assured; hadn't he just seen how she'd taken out three or his men without much resistance. 

The first blow convinced her. She barely had time to block that one. He blocked her kick, that should have sent him across the room.

"Either he has super powers as well..." Tianne thought, "... or I'm loosing mine at a reeeaally bad time."

Backing away from him, uncertain what to do next she noticed that one of the other soldiers had pinned Ariadne against the wall. Unable to use her mental powers she probably wasn't much of a match for his size and strength. 

The other had picked up William and was heading towards the ropes.

"They must have a helicopter up there," she thought, only then realising that she'd allowed herself to become distracted too long.

She never saw the fist that hit her. Then everything went black.

  


*

  


Tianne came to herself, finding that she was quite alone in the apartment. 

She remembered the attackers taking William away just before they had managed to "neutralize" her. She really didn't like that word. Where was Ariadne ? What had happened ? She'd suddenly reverted to being close to her normal self during the fight, and one of the soldiers had managed to knock her out. Had they taken Ariadne as well ?

She suddenly noticed the sound of footsteps outside the apartment, and scrambled to her feet, just in case the commandos were coming back for another round.

Luckily the footsteps belonged to Ariadne.

"Tianne, are you ok ?" she asked. 

Tianne nodded.

"I couldn't fight them," Ariadne explained, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"There were too many of them, and I was so afraid that they would hurt William if I tried anything."

"So, they got away", Tianne sighed.

"Well, yeah," Ariadne answered brushing the tears away, "But I managed to slip after them unnoticed. I didn't have enough power to fight them, so instead I just homed in on their thoughts and followed them to the place where they took him"

Tianne reached out and hugged her young partner. Even though she was hardly out of her teens she was strangely resourceful and intelligent when it really counted.

"Ok, so we still have a chance at getting him back."

"You betcha! As soon as it gets dark we should go back and have a look around."

  


So they had gone, only to find guards waiting for them almost as soon as they had managed to get inside the building. Would this night's efforts bring more success, Tianne wondered?

  



	2. Part two

"He's gone", said Tianne looking at the place where she'd previously met the Mediator, "I was pretty sure he was holed up down here somewhere close to where I met him, but if he was then he's long gone now.

"So where do we go from here?" Ariadne asked wrinkling her nose, "Hopefully somewhere less smelly"

"I'd hoped that, even though he wasn't intimidated by my physical strength, we could get some information out of him about the place where they're keeping William."

"So, you would distract him and I'd read his mind while you were talking," Ariadne smiled.

"Yeah, that was sort of the general idea."

Tianne shrugged and lead Ariadne down another tunnel. They were going to finish this, even without assistance.

"If he _is_ somewhere down here", Tianne thought, "then where is he. Is he busy doing something else entirely, or does he keep his own agenda in these matters?"

She thought back at the explanation that Computer had given her earlier on about what it had found in research on the net so far.

  


*

  


"Could you stop all those flashing images for just a moment. I can't concentrate"

All around her images flashed on the monitors of Computer, filling them with information as it sorted through both it's own files and what was available on the Internet. The speed at which they appeared made it impossible for Tianne to make heads or tails of anything. Not that she was likely to do so even if the texts and pictures had been appearing at regular speed.

"I'm not much of a reader, and just trying to think about all that information would make my head hurt - which would make me very grumpy"

The flickering of images on the screens came to an abrubt halt.

"Perhaps some more soothing image then," Computer suggested.

"I have the surveillance tape of your guest from last night sleeping"

"Huh?"

"Young Ariadne has already been in here twice to view it. She seemed to find the images very pleasing"

Tianne let out something between a low growl and a mutter.

"Yeah, I bet she did. Now just tell me what you've found, plain and simple, no flashing lights no music, no sleeping half-naked men..."

Tianne paused for at moment.

"..just the facts, ok?"

"All myths about the Mediators seem to originate from the story of a certain Roland. A very powerful being that lived in the middle ages. He is always described as very powerful, some even describe him as a half-deity. But more likely he was some sort of wizard able to use both dark and white magic."

The image of what must be an old painting of the mythic Roland appeared on the screen.

"And he created the mediators"

"It would seem so," Computer continued, "He lived while the Inquisition was at the height of its power. Witchcraft and some pagan beliefs were on the rise, and considered a threat to the true faith. So even though he was very powerful, he was not able to save his own daughter from being tried as a witch, the Inquisition sensed his power and used their own countermeasures"

"You mean she..."

"Died at the stake, yes. Apparently this event was what drove her father over the brink"

Tianne looked at the next image on the screen.

"She is so young and beautiful. He must have loved her very much."

"It would seem so. I've found fragments of a letter from him to the head of the Inquisition with sentiments that these new beliefs, though often associated with the devil and forces of evil were trying to do good, and that the church in its efforts to eliminate its competition was aligning itself with evil."

"So, did he create the Mediators to fight the church?"

"No, his vengeance turned out to be directed at both good and evil. Since innocents were being hurt while these two forces struggled to gain the upper hand, he would deny both sides their victory. So he created a third force that would exist until humanity had found another way...

Tianne was lost in her own thoughts for a moment, she didn't know what origin her own powers had. Was she fighting for good, evil or just protecting the innocent ?

"... and so, they still walk this earth. Trying to uphold the balance between good and evil, so that none of the two may ever gain the upper hand. No information about the whereabouts of Roland is available, but it's believed that he perished while creating his army of moderators".

"Well, that's one way to put your all into completing your life's work," Tianne added.

  


*

  


Tianne kept thinking about the mysterious man who had created the mediators while walking through the underground passages beneath the city with Ariadne. If the mediator she'd met earlier was one of his creations, how would he perceive what she and Ariadne was doing. Would he help them ? Would he try to stop them ? Or would he perhaps see that William was just one of those innocent bystanders that needed protection ? In this case protection in the form of Ariadne and herself.

She halted in the middle of one tunnel, doing a quick mental recalculation.

"If I'm right, then according to the plans that Computer showed me, this should be one of the subterranean levels of the building"

"But it's not like there's any entrance," Ariadne objected.

"Well, we'll just have to make our own."

Tianne smiled and faced the wall. She was fully recharged and in control of all her powers, so this obstacle should be possible to overcome if she simply focused on one spot in the wall in front of her... and hit it with all she had.

She concentrated, and let loose with all she had, feeling the satisfaction of the bricks giving way to her fist like they had only been made of cardboard.

She looked back at Ariadne, who was smilingly doing a mock-bow.

"I see now that you've been practicing 'The way of Tiannes exploding fist'. Most excellent"

"Well, don't join the joy-luck-club just yet, we still have to face what's inside the building"

Tianne got a small Mag lite torch from her belt and shone a small beam of light through the hole she'd made in the wall. It was about three or four feet wide, and should be enough to admit both of them if nothing was waiting for them on the inside, but the room seemed empty. Perhaps some kind of storage?

"Well, we did the breaking part, so I guess this is where we do the entering", she said and grabbed Ariadne and showed her feet-first through the hole in the wall, following close by as soon as she could let go of her partner.

She was still trying to get her bearings in the dark inside when a disembodied voice from somewhere suddenly spoke.

"Almost too predictable...."

Straining to find out which direction the voice was coming from Tianne suddenly noticed a hissing sound from above.

"Hey wait, that smell...."

She wanted to continue the sentence with something along the lines of "Gas! Lets get out of here", but suddenly found that she couldn't concentrate on making the words form in her mouth. Instead just keeping herself upright became almost impossible with the room suddenly spinning out of control around her, so the only sound ended up being the two girls falling unconsciously to the floor.

*

  


Ariadne awoke in semi-darkness, so the first of her senses giving her any idea of her surroundings was the strangely familiar smell and the hearing something move in the darkness at the other end of the room. Waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness she moved cautiously toward the other end of the room. She'd only moved a few steps forward when a snarl caused her to halt again. Ariadne felt a chill run down her spine as she realised that the sound came from a large catlike animal now moving towards her. As it moved toward her she could see that it must be a tiger and that the two other animals approaching behind it were a panther and a lion.

  


"Martial arts is probably not going to be enough to help me with these kittens," she thought to herself, feeling a slight panic. Reaching inside herself she tried to call her mental defenses forward, hoping to block the approaching animals. But instead of the forceful blast she'd been able to use in training against Tianne she could only produce a feeble nudge that wasn't going to move anything.

  


*

  


"I don't remember setting the alarm this early," was the first reaction from Tianne to the whirring metallic noise that abruptly pulled her out of her sleep. But the bright lights in the room quickly convinced her that she was far away from home.

The three things that were in the room with her looked like something out of a science fiction movie, except they were real and looked very menacing.

"I suppose none of you are going to make coffee for me".

This got their attention, and all three robots started moving towards her. Cursing that she couldn't resist the kind of bravado that had provoked their reaction she started looking for any openings in the defenses of her new opponents.

New seemed to be the operative word here, because neither of them seemed to have any scratches in the red paint that covered their upper "body" or the dull grey metal that was their limbs.

"Target is no longer inactive," informed the dull metallic voice of one of them. "Initiate termination sequence," added another.

  


*

  


Ariadne was still backing away from the approaching tiger when she noticed that she wasn't the only person in the room. Huddled in the corner a bit to the left of her was William.

"William, you ok?" she whispered in his direction.

"Right as rain. Been trying to avoid attracting the attention of these kitties while you were out"

Ariadne cursed herself for being careless enough to actually draw them towards him. What kind of protector was she anyway if she ended up doing more harm than good. "Nothing can happen to this guy, I really like him" she thought.

Suddenly something clicked in her mind as she went over that thought again. She had been trying to defend herself, searching for something to harm the animals with. Perhaps a different strategy was in order.

"You know what? I really like cats. Don't you?", she suddenly straightened up and even shot a quick smile at William.

"What? Has your mind gone off luv? We're almost lunch for these nasty buggers and your best defence is trying to flatter them to death?"

Ariadne took a first cautious step towards the tiger. It didn't move, but it didn't attack either.

"Something like that, yes," Ariadne replied and motioned for him to get up and follow her.

"Well it bloody well seems to work. How'd you do that?" William asked as the big cats seemed to relax and let them move through their ranks unmolested.

"Like I said. I like cats," Ariadne replied, grinning.

"Since my powers are acting up so I can't hit them with much force I tried instead to use my power to project my like of cats around us. So they don't see us as a threat anymore. I'm guessing that I probably make a nice purring sound in their minds right now.

"You're an awfully clever young woman you know"

  


*

  


"Initiate termination sequeeezzz .. gzzzrt... Initi..."

The heel of Tiannes boot came down on the remains of the head of the robot. It went quiet. "Heels may not be practical for running, but sometimes they do pack a mean punch," she thought, smiling to herself.

She kicked the head in the direction of the rest of the debris lying on the floor. It made a metallic noise and lay still.

She looked down.

A green print circuit was lying on the floor, obviously something that had fallen out of the head of the robot during the fight.

She bent down and picked it up. Of course the components made no sense to her, but there was a name on the print itself 'Guetzer inc.'. Somebody had made this, so they might tell who had ordered it. Ariadne would be able to get that information out of them.

Throwing the print circuit on to the pile already on the floor she left the room to go looking for her partner.

The corridor outside seemed deserted, except for one person turning around the corner further along. Tianne caught herself in shouting out "Is that you William?", but thought it better not attract any attention. She moved along the corridor, looking for a door that might look like it was keeping somebody she knew captive inside.

  


*

  


"I knew you were gonna save me," William said, looking directly into her eyes. His eyes reflected both trust and honesty in a way that suddenly overwhelmed her. "Can't put my finger on it luv, but from the moment I woke up on the floor of you flat. I've had this feeling that I was safe with you. "

Araidnes heart almost skipped a beat. "He feels safe with me," she thought and even though she wouldn't quite acknowledge the feeling she added the quiet thought "safe with me, not me and Tianne."

Tianne!!! She'd almost forgotten about her, perhaps she was in trouble somewhere else in the building.

"We need to get out of here! Any chance that you know how to pick a lock William?"

"Not really. But then I don't remember anything about what I used to do before. Odds are that I'm probably really just a haberdasher with a wife and two kids," he looked at her again, "But somehow I hope not."

"Wishing sure won't make the door open", Ariadne replied, while making a wish of her own.

The next moment the door came crashing in.

  


*

  


"We have to get William out of this place," Tianne said stepping over the door lying on the floor, slightly out of shape and surrounded by pieces of the hinges and frame.

"I'll take him with me and make sure he's safe. You should try to get some info on who these guys are"

"I've made sure he was ok so far, haven't I", came the unusually non-perky reply from Araidane.

"Look," Tiannes voice had an added commandeering quality to it, "You're the one that has a handle on this sneaky business and you'd be the best to get the information."

Ariadne stepped closer to her. Even though she was almost a feet and a half shorter than Tianne there was a certain resolve in the way she still looked right back at her.

"So, I'm the sneaky one. Perhaps I'm not the only one getting sneaky."

"What do you mean ??? Look, I'm just saying..." Tianne paused, "What's wrong with you. I simply asked you to get some information. What's so difficult about that?" 

"I'm not the one using my fists to solve every problem around here, so don't try to patronize me about being the smart one here!"

Tianne could feel her patience reaching it's end. She had to act now, if they just stood around here arguing the soldiers might recapture William.

"We haven't got the time to discuss this now Ariadne. Come on William", she said, reaching out for his arm to drag him along.

She didn't even see the blow from Ariadnes fist coming before it hit her shoulder. Ariadne didn't have extraordinary strength like herself, but the strike to the deltoid hurt just the same.

"Get your hands off him bitch! He's minem," she suddenly heard Ariadne snarl.

She wasn't sure what was going on, but something must be influencing Ariadne. If she was loosing it, Tianne knew she had to protect William so that he wouldn't be hurt no matter what she tried.

Ducking another blow she advanced toward Ariadne. "Look, we have to stay focused here.. William needs to..."

"William needs _me_", Ariadne broke her off.

"Look.." was as far as she got before Ariadnes punch hit her straight on the jaw. She lost her balance and landed somewhat roughly on her butt, wondering how such a blow could ever get her off her feet. Wasn't she supposed to be super-resilient?

Behind her she could hear Williams voice.

"Ermm... ladies. It's not that I don't appreciate the whole fighting over my person thing. But don't we 'ave another way to resolve this than beating the crap out of each other?"

"There is, William" came a voice from the doorway beside them, "but it involves revealing your true nature."

Tianne and Ariadne both turned to face the Mediator who had moved up to them during the argument without any of them noticing. He stepped forward and grabbed William by the shoulder.

Tianne noticed how his hand suddenly seemed to get an orange glow, almost as if it was hot, but William didn't seem to be in any pain, more like he was surprised at the sudden surge of energy that seemed to shoot out from the hand of the Mediator.

"No!!!" Ariadne shouted. As the orange glow ran along the hand of the Mediator onto the body of William.

Both girls hesitated, unsure what to do. How could they fight the Mediator with the powers they had?

William seemed to be dissolving where the orange light hit him. As if his human skin was only a shell behind which something else had been hiding all along.

"Stop it!!! You're tearing him apart," Tianne chimed in, unsure what was really happening.

It seemed that energies were meeting, merging in a strange miasma where the power of the Mediator hit William's body. Yellow rays reached out of his body, suddenly striking out from him, hitting Tianne who instinctively dived for cover, but she was too late to avoid being hit.

The yellow ray didn't feel unpleasant, as she had anticipated. Actually it didn't feel any way at all as it hit her, but she bounced back to her feet feeling oddly invigorated as more rays struck her.

Half of Williams body had already dissolved into strange energies, and with a sudden flash of blinding yellow light the rest of it suddenly disappeared. Leaving both Tianne and Ariadne reeling with dizziness.

Ariadne was the first to shake the effects of what had happened off.

She lifted her face from where she had fallen during the flash of light.

"Why??? Why did you do that to him???"

The Mediator was silent at first.

"I did this because of what he is, and what he was doing to you", came the reply. Still in the same deep unemotional voice.

He turned to walk away, Tianne noticed as she rolled over on her back and tried to get up again.

"That's not an answer!!!" Ariadne cried out, "I HATE you!"

Without warning she let fly with a full mental blast against the back of the Mediator. Who seemed shaken for a moment, almost toppling while his cloak seemed to glow shortly as if almost on fire.

Ariadne seemed not to have enough power to follow through with a second attack, so the Mediator straightened himself and continued walking down the corridor. Ariadne got to her feet. She still hadn't gotten used to her power coming and going like it had for the last couple of days, but right now she felt up to taking on anybody to get some answers.

  


*

  


"Hey wait," Tianne yelled down the corridor, "Don't you dare walk out on me this time."

To her surprise she actually managed to get him to pause.

"Look, I've had it up to here with this dark, brooding and mysterious stuff. Either you start telling me something about what is going on, or so help me god I'll beat the crap out of you."

The Mediator turned around, and Tianne realised that even though she was taller than Ariadne she still seemed to be small compared to him.

"... or at least give it a try," she added, less sure of her self.

"You know of my origins," his deep calm voice stated.

Anger still won out over intimidation for Tianne.

"You're a Mediator... and they aren't supposed to exist, but here you are - mediating or interfering or whatever it is that you do."

"I am a Mediator, which means that I cannot allow the scales between good and evil to be tipped in favour of any of the two. But I can give you some information about what was being attempted here tonight."

Tianne stood unmoving, folding her arms across her chest.

"Ok, spill..."

"The robots you fought earlier, they were prototypes your adversary was testing out. His ultimate plan was to create an entire army of them."

Tianne shrugged.

"They weren't that powerful, I took on three of them singlehandedly."

"Yes, to power a whole army he would have needed something else, more power, which is why he was targeting you two."

"Us? You mean Ariadne and me were the targets and not William."

The Mediator fell silent again for a moment.

"I'm sorry, but this William - he never existed. He was the creation of your enemy, existing only to absorb your power while being around you. Your source of power is rooted in good, but it can still be corrupted and subverted if drawn out of you - and that is what he was trying to do. He was placed with you, then retrieved to collect the power he had already siphoned off you."

Tianne shook her head with disbelief. Her heart felt suddenly very heavy and her stomach tightened in a knot. Until now she had been running on anger and adrenalin, but realising how much she had allowed the unknown enemy to get under her skin and manipulate her feelings made her feel sad and empty.

".... and being complete fools we actually went in and retrieved him so he could do the same again."

"Yes, to get to your powers they needed something that you would not want to loose at any cost, so that you'd keep it close even when your powers were fading. But you weren't retrieving him, you were picking up a new one. Your adversary has created multiple copies, since extracting the energy he picks up from you ends up destroying the vessel that carried it."

Tianne felt a short surge of hope. Perhaps there was another one out there that they hadn't found yet. That felt sort of comforting, though she knew she would never be able to get close to him without the danger of loosing her powers.

"But where did his image come from? And why just one guy ? If they had used one guy for each of us we'd just have gotten all cuddly with them and never noticed anything."

The Mediator was silent at first. It gave Tianne time to reflect on how William had just come into her life and almost immediately awoken these feelings in her even before she knew anything about who or what he was. Even to the point where she had been willing to fight Ariadne over him. She felt sick, used with an urge to just get out of there. But underneath it anger was rising again. She would not allow them to get away with it.

"..there are things, that are not clear to me at present. This William was clearly not of this world, yet he seemed to be drawn from your subconsciousness. How your opponent came up with him is not clear to me."

Tianne straightened up.

"So now would be a really good time for you to give me his name and address, so I can go and beat the crap out of him. Perhaps he can fill me in on the details afterwards if he is still able to speak."

The reply from the Mediator was very firm.

"No, I cannot interfere any further. I must maintain balance. I have helped you when the scales were tipped in your disfavor, and I might help you again in the future."

"But you'd just as well help the sleaze balls that arranged this if the scales are tipped the other way?...."

The mediator turned once more and started to walk away. Tianne could not help noticing that the back of his hooded robe seemed almost scorched where the mental blast from Ariadne had hit him. He must have known that he might be killed, and still he had done what he saw as his duty.

"I'm a Mediator, I must mediate or cease to exist. I'm sorry...."

"Yeah, whatever! That's some burn-mark you got there. Are you sure you're okay?"

  


*

  


"Buffy, are you ok?"

At first Rileys voice seemed to be coming from far away, but when she opened her eyes, his face was right in front of her. Concern for her wellbeing showed clearly in his face, so instinctively she started doing a mental inventory.

She was in bed, check, right number of limbs, check, feeling a bit sluggish, but otherwise ok.

"I think so? What happened?"

Suddenly she noticed that Willow was there in the room with them. How did she get here?

"You were like out cold for almost two days Buffy", Willow explained, "Sleeping all the time."

"Though not the kind of sleeping Buffy I'm used to", Riley continued. "Tossing and turning like that - I'd almost say you were fighting in you sleep."

Willow let out a brief nervous laugh, "Maybe you were sleep-slaying. You know like sleep walking, only not really walking, but ..."

Realising that the others had already gotten the point Willow let the sentence trail away unfinished.

  


Buffy sat up and shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts. 

  


Then suddenly it hit her.

  


"I had the strangest dream. An none of you were in it.... actually even I wasn't in it... even though somehow I was..."

"Seems that the making sense department is closed for repairs and remodeling," Riley commented.

"Huh?"

Riley smiled at the sudden frown from Buffy, she always looked cute trying to get a handle om something that confused her. Always trying to be in control of things.

"Just an attempt at humor. Obviously not one of my strong points."

"You have lots of strong points", Buffy assured him, "Enough to stake a whole football team of vampires."

Then she frowned again, trying to remember the details of her dream.

"I was like this superhero... and I was working with another girl who also had powers... and we were fighting .... over ... Spike?"

Buffy grimaced at the name, like biting into a lemon.

"Spike ? Superheroes ? Boy, thats some weird dream?"

"Perhaps its some residual magic energy from that spell I did, where you..."

Willow caught herself, not sure how much Buffy had ever told Riley about her brief magic-induced engagement to Spike that could have resulted in marriage.

"..or maybe it was something you ate", offered Willow, "Spicy food sometimes makes make people dream the weirdest things. I remember reading that some writer got an idea for a book after a meal of spicy crabs. I wonder who that was..."

Buffy still looked pensive.

"No, not something I ate. I had dinner with mom and Dawn so they should have the same kind of weirdness, which they haven't. Have they?"

Concern for her mom and sister suddenly jumped to the front of her attention. She'd assumed that they were ok, since Willow and Riley hadn't mentioned them, but what if...

"Nope, nothing wrong here" came Dawn's voice from the door to her room, "I always said that you were the weird sister, but no one ever listens to me."

Relieved that Dawn was all right Buffy let the remark pass.

"You mom's alright", Riley assured her, "She had to go to work at the gallery, so she asked me and Willow to look after you."

  


*

  


"D-do you think your dream was some sort of prophecy?" Willow asked while hading the coffee-mug over to Buffy. Buffy was feeling a little less confused now that she'd had time to shower and put on some clothes.

  


"Nah, can't see myself becoming a superhero.. that is, apart from being the Slayer of course", Buffy replied, then she paused, "... didn't you call me a superhero yesterday Riley?"

"Did I?"

  


"Yeah, you know - when you asked me to attack you and not hold back, and I hit you so that you hit the wall.. and I really shouldn't mention that episode again ever, should I?"

Buffy looked sheepishly at Riley, who just smiled.

"But you did say I was strong as Spiderman."

Riley thought about that for a moment.

"You're right. I did say that. Actually we're dropping comic book references all the time. Xander is always comparing us to the Avengers.. and there's this Scooby thing."

"Maybe that's it", Willow interrupted, "Sometimes you dream stuff from something somebody has said to you during the day. Like this time when Tara said that we were...".

Suddenly the expression on her face changed in mid-sentence.

".. but we should really focus on your dream. Maybe that was the cause of your dreamy superpowers?"

"Well, it certainly makes as much sense as them coming from some weird orb-like thingy bought at a garage sale," Buffy agreed.

"What do you mean orb-like?" Dawn chimed in.

"Just, you know this round object, made of glass or crystal.... colored like smoke."

"You mean like the one that mom and me brought home from the garage sale the other day."

"You what?"

"We brought it home the other night. It was very cheap and mom wasn't sure if she was going to keep it here at home of sell it at the gallery. I'll get it..."

Dawn jumped out of her chair and headed for the living room.

"Dawn! Be careful, that thing might be...."

The crash broke off the rest of the sentence. In the silence following it they could all hear the quiet "Oops" coming from the living room.

Riley and Willow were already waiting for Buffy to explode and yell at Dawn for being clumsy, like she seemed to do lately. But instead Buffy just went over to refill her cup of coffee.

"Well, I guess we'll never know."

  


*

  


"So, when did you become Mr. Home & Garden all of a sudden?"

In the darkness of the office Wesley had been so focused on the computer screen that he hadn't noticed Cordelia entering.

  


"Sorry?" he muttered absentmindedly as he turned around.

"That glass vase you're looking at. Not that it wouldn't look nice around the office, but with the kind of clients we keep, I'm thinking something more industrial strength would be more suitable. For my apartment on the other hand it would..."

"Eh, Cordelia, it's not a vase, it's an orb."

"Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure I've seen some Finish designer vases that look like it."

"I'm sure it's an orb", Wesley answered, "However it also seems now to be unavailable."

"And we need an orb because...?"

Cordelia looked a bit worried. It had been more than a week since her last vision, which was one absence that went unmourned by her. So, if the Powers That Be hadn't sent them on any mission right now, what was Wesley looking for.

"This orb has... or rather had... at least was alleged to have.... some interesting interdimensional properties. It seemed to be the instantiation of some kind of potential that exists on a multiversial level."

"Meaning... what ? For those of us that don't think of a good time as hunkering down with a thesaurus."

Wesley fidgeted a bit, trying to look like he was adjusting his glasses. Cordelias knack for cutting right to the heart of the matter still took some getting used to for him, even though they had now been working together for almost a year.

"You know that there are other dimensions or should I say worlds besides the one we live in?"

"Yes, demon-hellmouth places with things that look like giant squids with a bad hair day. If this belonged to any of them we don't want it."

"It's not quite like that", Wesley continued, "Some theories say that there are other dimensions of the non-demon variety, where some of them may even resemble our own world quite a lot."

"So, this is from one of those worlds?"

"It is difficult to say where it originated from. According to some sources there are powers at work that, even though they cannot rival The Powers That Be, have their own agendas and join in the struggle between good and evil in their own way."

"A number of my manuscripts have mentioned that orbs like this have appeared in the vicinity of a local heroic person and enhanced his or her powers."

"It has never been reported seen in this dimension, but recently an occult broker let it be known that he had located one and thought he could purchase it within a couple of days."

Cordelia looked unusually thoughtful for a few moments.

"So, you were hoping that this orb-thing had turned up to help Angel."

Wesley turned off the computer screen.

"Yes, that was my intention. Since lately Angel has seemed a bit distracted from his work, I was hoping that this could help him refocus. But tonight my source informed me that the orb seems to be lost again."

"Did he say how?"

Wesley shook his head.

"No, they do not reveal much information, for fear that other buyers might get to the item before they do themselves."

"So, some dark and evil force managed to destroy the orb before Angel could get hold of it."

"Yes, it would seem so," Wesley replied, rubbing his forehead.

Cordelia wasn't so easily discouraged though.

"But you say that these things just mysteriously turn up near the hero that needs them? So maybe that one wasn't meant for Angel, but for somebody else."

"Yes, I guess we'll never know for sure."


End file.
